Skip Cohen - Wedding Photography from the Heart: Creative Techniques to Capture the Moments that Matter

Cover photograph jy Joe Buissink
Cover design by Jess Morphew
Text copyright 2009 by Joe Buissink and Skip Cohen
Photographs copyright 2009 by Joe Buissink
Designer: 3 & Co.

First published in 2009 by Amphoto Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York
www.crownpublishing.com
www.amphotobooks.com

All rights reserved. AMPHOTO BOOKS and the Amphoto Books logo are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Buissink, Joe.
Wedding photography from the heart : creative techniques to capture the moments that matter / by Joe Buissink and Skip Cohen; photographs by Joe Buissink; foreword by Dennis Reggie.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN: 978-0-8174-2550-0
1. Wedding photography. I. Cohen, Skip. II. Title.
TR819.B85 2009
778.993925dc22
2009019208

v3.1

Dedicated to our children

Justin, Benjamin, Sarah, and Sebastien Buissink, and Jaime and Dane Pickles and Adam and Lisa Cohen

Acknowledgments

No book project like this is ever the result of the authors efforts alone. Without the support of our families, friends, and the subjects of this book, its contentsas well as our careerswould be sorely lacking. We would especially like to thank Denis Reggie for his friendship, support, and inspiration; Bambi Cantrell for her never-ending enthusiasm; and Marilyn Buissink for her patience and unending love. Last, but certainly not least, we are grateful to all the wonderful brides, grooms, and their families and friends who allowed us the privilege of documenting a brief but intimate chapter in their lives.

W hen I look at photographs, I often try to imagine the mindset and personality of the man or woman behind the camera. I initially assess portrait and wedding photographs for their candor and their ability to communicate in two dimensions the inner feelings of the subject. Although technical precision may be a key element in a good photograph, I am moved more often by those rare images that convey an unmistakable reality and depict more about the subject and the moment than about the photographer and his technique. In the end, it seems that, more often than not, interesting and warm photographs are taken by interesting and warm photographers. Such is the case with Joe Buissink, rightfully regarded as one of the worlds greatest and most sensitive wedding photographers.

What minds eye could capture more tenderly the unmistakable feelings of love and true happiness that are revealed at a wedding than the images of Joe Buissink? Years before we met, I knew and loved his work and had wondered aboutimagined, actuallythe mindset and heart of such a photographer who could seemingly effortlessly convey the essence of a subject and a moment so powerfully.

Only later, and to my amazement, did I learn that he had survived a difficult, loveless childhood in an abusive household. Joe was born a Dutch citizen in Indonesia during the time of that nations transition to independence, to parents who had been imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II. When he was seven years old, Dutch residents were sent packing, and his family headed to the Netherlands for what proved to be four more difficult years. With his mixed pedigree and slightly darker skin, Joe was considered a foreigner and a ready target for schoolyard ridicule. Searching for the tolerance that had eluded them, his parents packed once again and headed to America. Joe mastered English and came of age in California during the 1960s, the height of the Vietnam era. Together with twelve of his friends, Joe enlisted through the militarys Buddy Program and was assigned to the Armys 82nd Airborne Division to serve his adopted country. After his discharge, his long quest for inner peace continued. Beginning as a line worker at an LP pressing plant for a California record company, Joe worked his way up to head of operations, but still longed for more in his life. In 1987, he headed to Cal State Northridge and earned his degree in general psychology. While doing research at UCLA and continuing studies at Northridge in the early 1990s, he pursued both masters and PhD degrees in neuropsychology. It was during that time that he took a part-time position as a printer in a photo lab and became proficient in black-and-white and color printing techniques. He then began considering photography as the optimal means of exploring and expressing the inner life of his subjects, and himself.

The defining moment that spawned Joes career came in 1995, when he photographed his son Ben in a loving moment with his mother. That powerful black-and-white image inspired Joe to become a professional photographer; it had unleashed his own sensitive perceptions and provided a means to uncover the love that had eluded him for so long. In 2007, Joe became an American citizen and, in 2008, voted for the first time in the presidential election. As a father of two children with autism spectrum disorder, he saw fit to illustrate the best-selling book Autism Heroes, featuring original poignant black-and-white photographs taken over a two-year period.

As a viewer of fine photographyand a photographer who has worked professionally for over thirty yearsI know well the rarity of such a talent. As a longtime member of the human race, I also know the exceptional wonder of a person of such genuine warmth and kindness. Joe seeks and finds goodness in most everyone he encounters and has the uncanny ability to connect with them in heartfelt empathy. I am always struck by his reply to, Hows it going, Joe? With a smile exuding his high-spirited optimism, he often replies, Its all good. As his photographs attest, Joe respects and connects with the goodness in everyone from every walk of life and circumstance.